Drivers Wanted? 351 of them Found at Volkswagen Newport Regatta as a Record Number of Sailors Race in Newport!
Sailors of all ages came from 12 U.S. States and from Germany, Canada and Australia to race in boats ranging from single-handed lasers, to youth Club 420s, to several classes of keelboats up to custom boats sailing in the two PHRF classes.
“I have never seen so many sailboats on this Bay in my life,” said Newporter Jane Rhine, who observed the spectacular site of over 300 boats racing on five “circles” on Narragansett Bay and through the West and East Passages of Rhode Island Sounds.
What makes the annual Volkswagen Newport Regatta so attractive to sailors is the tough competition presented by a Bay of highly skilled sailors and race management teams. Overall, 351 boats competed which is a stunning 100 more participant boats than the 2004 event. Classes included Farr 40, Mumm 30, Etchells, J/24, J/105, Frers 33, Bongo, Jet 14, Laser 4.7, Laser II, Laser Radial, Nomad, Laser Full Rig, Vanguard 15, 110, 210, Club 420, J/22, Shields and PHRF one and two.
Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio says,“The Regatta continues to grow because it’s such an amazing event to sail in, everywhere you look there is a different type of sailboat racing.” Reggio adds, “The sailing venue of Newport is equally amazing, where else can you accommodate every type of sailing possible, where you can run an event that includes everything from a 14 foot youth boat up to an over forty feet and absolutely everyone has a blast?”
Sailing Conditions
A variety of conditions were present for the three-day event starting with a 10-12 knot SW for the Friday Racing Classes Farr 40, Frers 33 and Etchells. Each class was able to finish two races that day to kick off the regatta.
On Saturday, Division 1 hit a wall of fog at Castle Hill and Peter Reggio turned the same three classes up to the North Bay to sail in the Gould Island area. Only after three light air races did the breeze pick up with a 10-212 knot Southerly. Farr 40s were able to capture a fourth race that day.
On Sunday, many of the classes had a wait or a slow start due to light wind and more patchy fog.By the afternoon most circle area had enough wind to wrap up their series nicely with nearly 70 races started that day between the five circles of racing?
Class Championships Determined
Several classes sanctioned the 2005 Volkswagen Newport Regatta as title championships and named their champion including the Frers 33 National Champion, David Nauber and his crew on Wolverine, and Tim Fallon (Sudbury, MA) who dominated the huge 65-boat Vanguard 15 the National Championship title. Also, the Laser 4.7 first ever North American Championship was won by Christian Cremer (Blue Point, NY), and the Jet 14 class awarded its Atlantic Coast Championship Trophy to Brent Barbehenn (Moorestown, NJ). Brad Read (Middletown, RI), Sail Newport’s Executive Director was dying to get back into a dinghy again and it paid off for him. Brad won the regatta as the new Bongo class’s first ever National Champion.
TV and Photos
Cory Silken, our regatta photographer took a few thousand photos of the action over the three-day event. Check Cory’s website for a full view of the on-the-water events. Photographs are available to purchase and make very cool crew gifts!
Cory Silken Regatta Photos
Rolling video of racing and the daily regatta show is also available to order and to view at the T2 Productions web site. Tucker Thompson and crew can be viewed at Regatta Video
Got Jettas?
As an added bonus for sailors this year, top placing skippers drive away in gleaming new Jettas on loan throughout the summer. The nineteen new cars were sent from Detroit specifically for the loaner program and an award for the fastest sailors. Let’s hope they drive slower on land.
Full Throttle Award
The Laser Full Rig class was swept up by an amazing youth sailor, Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, VI). His finishes included an impressive 2,1,5,2,1,4,2,1,1,3 after eleven races on one drop for a remarkable low 22 total points. Not only did Thomas win the Laser Trophy, he was awarded the top youth regatta sailor and the Volkswagen Full Throttle Award. The Volkswagen Full Throttle Award is given to an impressive performer on the water who is nominated and elected by the race Committee. Thomas will enjoy his standing as a top sailor but he also received a five hunder dollar gift certificate to Tetam 1 Newport courtesty of VW!
Dr. Robin Wallace Trophy
Dr. Wallace, a founder and long-time supporter of Sail Newport, determines the highest performing sailor of the regatta. After a formulaic method considering number of races, size of fleet and finishes, Charlie Webber, a sailor form took home was awarded the trophy. This is the. It’s not that often that a youth sailors wins this prestigious award, We will be watching Charlie and he continues to advance in the sport.
Race Committee
We are remarkably fortunate to have a group of expert race managers who partner with sail Newport to run the Volkswagen Newport Regatta. This year we had Peter Reggio, Dr. Robin Wallace (Ida Lewis Yacht Club), Sue Reilly, Ron Hopkins (Barrington Yacht Club) and Chip Johns and Ned Jones from Vanguard Sailboats.We are so appreciative of the over 100 volunteers and at least thirty powerboats dedicated to the Race Committee operations. Noel Field hedaded up the Jury and Lyyne Spingler, Tom Pederson, Olga Verbeek adn Sandy Parks took care of the huge volme of scoring.
Sponsors
Sail Newport and all of the happy competitors want to emphatically thank, Volkswagen of America for their sponsorship and support of this great event. Not only does Volkswagen underwrite the event with their sponsorship funding, there is a huge amount of time and effort dedicated to making the Volkswagen Newport Regatta a preeminent event on the East Coat. An entire team of car and marketing specialists travelled to Newport to run the promotions at Fort Adams, Bowen’s Wharf and First Beach to celebrate sailing.
Trish Capello and Steve Monaco of Arnold Worldwide have worked very hard to make all of the cars appear and the details of gifts, promotional items, signage, advertising and publicity for the event. We are very fortunate to have such actively involved sponsor partners for this event.
We also wish to acknowledge Caitie Murphy and Heather Taylor and Money Magazine for their role in teaming Sail Newport up with Volkswagen for the annual event.
DONORS
The biggest support next to Volkswagen is the funding that Sail Newport Receives form the Rhode Island State Yachting Committee. We can’t remember a year that the wonderful folks on the committee didn’t support this keynote event in Rhode Island and we are very gracious for their year-to-year support.
Thank You-Thank You!
Of course, where would we be without the Heineken sponsorship?? As usual, the cold truck pulled up with ample Heineken and Amstel Light for our thirsty sailors It is only through their generosity that the landside activities have cold beer ready right after racing each day. Thank you Darren Miller and Heineken for your support.
Thank you also to Mezza Corona Wine, Crystal Spring and Quaker Oats for refreshment for the competitors and Race Committee.
2006
Sail Newport has announced that July 7,8 and 9 will be the dates for the 2006 event. Check Sail Newport’s web site for further information, www.sailnewport.org.
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Click above photo for local Newport info!
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